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If you’re wondering why Lake Pend Oreille School District levies are getting higher all the time, it’s mostly the salaries.

Superintendent Shawn Woodward admits that they make up about 84 percent of the budget and in the upcoming March levy represent a $7 million increase. But he said he and chief financial officer Lisa Hals will not be taking a pay increase this year. (I wonder of that means they won’t be taking their yearly bonus?)

That’s a relief, because his salary has gone up more than 35 percent since he was hired in 2012. Based on his monthly payroll, he makes $173,910 a year. That puts him in the top four of superintendent salaries in the entire state and exceeds the governor’s salary by about $35,000. Meanwhile, LPOSD enrollment numbers place it 22nd among Idaho school districts.

CFO Hals’ monthly salary of $12,037 works out to $144,444 a year for managing LPOSD’s budget of $34.9 million, which includes providing justification for the recurring levies. She has received a nearly 40 percent raise since 2011, the year when payroll records became available on LPOSD’s website. Her salary tops that of the Idaho State Controller’s by about $20,000, and he manages a $3.4 billion budget for the entire state.

A number of other LPOSD administrators are over or very near the six-figure salary mark as well. In a modest-size school district in a county where the median income is in the $30,000s, these salaries are excessive. Especially since the levy would raise them some more.

Please send a message to LPOSD by voting against this levy on March 12.

SHARON BANNING

Clark Fork